And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

— Anais Nin.

To me Spring is the most awkward time of year. Don't get me wrong - it's beautiful. But it's, well, strange. The murky weather often doesn't seem to match Spring's riotous free-spirited ways. Her rapid fire changes often look out of place - a cacophony of hot pink tulips exploding against the backdrop of a cloudy sky and muddy earthworms in the rain. Too much, too soon. For awhile, you need a seasonal decoder ring just to get dressed in the morning. Will it be cold mist and showers all day or steamy and sunny by early afternoon? Or - somehow, confusingly - both?

Moving into new territory in our lives often requires a willingness to abandon some of our old guardedness and certainty about how things will go. Our bodies work in similar ways - when we're anxious, tense, overloaded, or stressed, muscles reflexively tighten, restricting movement in an effort to keep us protected and within a familiar range. Our bodies literally help us "keep it together" in this way.

Therapeutic bodywork can help us let go of those old patterns and allow pain that no longer serves us to recede, creating room for fresh grace and growth to flow into the work of the everyday. Suddenly trying something new - a fresh pattern of movement, an unfamiliar workout, a different way of reaching forward or "leaning in", a reawakening of a previously injured area - doesn't seem so impossible...

On this first weekend of Spring, I'm letting the awkward first buds of growth in nature and the Aries new moon inspire me to make :: space. for that kind of healthy change. Hope you discover courage to do the same. In whatever ways you need.